


A Family for Tim

by Chibifukurou



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse, DCU Animated
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-01
Updated: 2012-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-17 13:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibifukurou/pseuds/Chibifukurou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim is a child of Gotham. He knows the secret identities of half a dozen villains, he follows Batman around with a camera.</p><p>He even has a secret identity of his own, as one of Selina's proteges. It's a juggling act hanging out with her and Jason while keeping Batman's secrets., but it's always been worth it.</p><p>Then, Jason got himself caught stealing Batman's tires and Tim had to decide if getting Jason back was as important as keeping the fragile balance between villainous protege and superhero stalker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Family for Tim

**Author's Note:**

> A Huge thank you to my wonderful artists. Bone_Kun, Ailea, and Situ and my beta who I took hopeless advantage of Evian_Fork
> 
> Unfortunately I don't have all the links to the art master posts yet
> 
> But the ones I can link to are: 
> 
> [Ailea's Art Master Post](http://ailea.livejournal.com/157858.html) and [Situ's Art Master Post](http://c2ii.tumblr.com/post/34771050231/a-family-for-tim-by-chibifukurou-link-to-be)  
> (They're awesome art is embedded in the story as well)
> 
> Everybody please keep Bone_Kun in your prayers since I think she's being affected by SANDY.

A Family for Tim by Chibifukurou

# # #

Click…click…click…

The shudder snaps, clicks, and whrrs. The flash is off so it won’t be noticed, but the sound can’t be muffled. Across the greenhouse and in the middle of their fight, Batman, Robin, and Ivy won’t be able to hear it, but it still makes his body tighten and flinch with every click.

Instincts honed by years of hiding make every exhale and rustle of his movements sound like gunshots. He ignores the urge to run away before he’s noticed. It will only draw more attention.

So he remains where he is and concentrates on getting every clear shot of the fight that he can. There aren’t many. Batman and Robin tie Ivy up and leave her hanging from one of her trees, before he can get more than a few more pictures taken. Though he does get one nice close-up of Dick’s face, when he paused to look back at Ivy before following Bruce to the bat-mobile.

Tim remains in his spot, curled into the crook of an oak tree near the entrance of the greenhouse, until the police come. The blue and red strobe effect of their car lights, cast the green-house in flickering shadows that make even the veteran officers jumpy.  The don’t leave the carefully cut paths and walk back to back so they can keep every angle in range of their guns.

Tim holds his breath and digs his fingers into the tree’s bark. He doesn’t want to startle any over-excitable rookies and end up shot.

It’s a matter of minutes before they reach Ivy, but it takes a while before they can figure out how to get her down. Finally, one of them manages to figure out how the rope is secured to another tree and they are able to get her down.

They scurry away as quickly as possible, two officers carrying Ivy, while the other’s keep their guns trained on the surroundings.

They leave one patrol car in front of the greenhouse, for the sake of procedure. Nobody is going to be stupid enough to steal from Ivy. Not when the longest she’s ever stayed in Arkham is three months.

Tim stays in his tree for a few more minutes, until he is sure that the officer is distracted, before climbing down the side of the tree that faces away from the greenhouses’ entrance.

Once he’s sure he wasn’t notices, he makes his way to the hidden portion of the greenhouse, where Ivy’s most important plants are housed. He covers them so they won’t be harmed by the greenhouse’s broken windows. The nights are starting to become chilled and there is no reason to leave her comparatively harmless plants unprotected. He rubs his fingers over the pot of one of her baby man-eating fly-traps. Careful to keep his fingers away from its mouth.

“Don’t worry, Mommy will be back soon.” He probably should feel ridiculous for talking to the plants like they can understand him, but this is Gotham. It isn’t like sentient plants are beyond the realm of possibility, particularly not when they were grown in Poison Ivy’s greenhouse.

# # #

The next night, Tim wears his rattiest pair of jeans and the parched and faded denim jacket, Selina had gotten him the Christmas before. She’d bought it a few sizes too big, saying that it would give him room to grow into it. But that hasn’t happened yet. The cuffs still reach down to his finger-tips.

Ass over-sized as it is the jacket makes Tim look vulnerable and even smaller than he already is. He’s been tempted to leave it at home more than once, but he never does. Selina bought it for him, and besides it has plenty of pockets for his lock picks and knives.

Even using the rooftops it takes almost forty-five minutes to get the six miles from the Drake mansion to Selina’s section of the Red District. It would be quicker if he took the main roads, but he’d rather be extra careful. People generally leave him alone because their scared of Selina, but there is always the occasional person who likes to try and piss Selina off by going after her girls, or occasionally Jason and Tim.

Once he reaches the edge of Selina’s territory he uses a fire escape to climb down to street level. Where Jason is waiting for him. “How’s it going, little bird?”

Tim shrugs.

“You can stay with us you know. Instead of running around on your own. Selina might be trying to get out of the protection racket, but you’re family. It’s different.”

Tim shrugs again. “I’m happy where I am.”

Jason snorted. “If you were happy you wouldn’t be running around every night in clothes Selina bought from you months ago, or visiting the Red Light district every chance you get.”

“You’re here every night.” Tim says. This is an old argument and not one he can win without revealing the fact that he’s not a street kid, like Selina and Jason assume. “And I’m sorry for worrying you when I didn’t come last night.”

“Like I’ve been worried about your scrawny ass.”

Tim hides a smile behind his hand. Jason’s shifty eyes and the way he’s pretending that the cracked brick of the alley wall is terribly interesting, make it obvious that Jason’s lying about not being worried. He’s terrible at bluffing, when he can’t resort to witty come-backs.

They meet Selina a few streets over. Just as she finishes showing an older John, dressed in a rumbled business suit, why he has to pay the girl’s for their services. He’s bleeding all over the place, from a busted nose. There is no way he’s going to get the blood stains out of his dress shirt, but Tim can’t see anything seriously wrong with him. So he follows Selina’s lead and ignores him as he scurries away.

“Hey, my two boys. I was wondering where you were.” She pulls them both into a hug, an arm slung over each of their shoulders. Tim leans into it, while Jason tries to squirm away, just another sign of their differences.

When she finally lets them go. Jason stalks off a few steps and puffs himself up like a pissed off cat. While Tim stay’s close to her side. “So now that you’re back, do you two want to help me take care of a little business?”

“What kind?” Tim asks.

Her smile is full of enough teeth to make a tiger proud. “The kind where we explain to Sticks that just because I’m looking for a replacement to look after the girls, that doesn’t mean I’m going to let him pressure them into joining his crew. Not with the way he messes his girls up.

Jason matches her smile with and equally toothy one of his own. “Sounds like fun.”

Tim nods his own agreement. Beating up thugs isn’t really his cup of tea, but he’ll support Selina. And not just because he’s heard the rumors about how Sticks treats his women.

# # #

A week later there is a robbery on a jewelry store. Diamonds are the main target, which is enough to get Tim’s fingers itching for his camera. It’s been a quiet week, and while he’d enjoyed the chance to spend most of his evenings with Selina and catch up on his school work. He’s ready for a change.

He spends hours until that evening getting ready. He dresses a little nicer than he would for a trip to Selinas’. Lower middle class, instead of street brat. He rebuilt his camera so that the chasse is of an old school Polaroid and that would draw attention if he was playing the part of a street kid.

He makes it downtown a few minutes after the starting begins.  Dr. Freeze has frozen an entire area round city hall into an ice fortress, but Batman and Robin have blasted a hole through the east wall, that stretched all the way from street level to two stories up.

The police have the whole area blocked off, but they are more worried about keeping the reporters out then paying attention to the kid who ducks under the police tape and climbs into the fortress.

The inside is full of snow. It trickles down from the vaulted ceiling of ice and falls on head and trickles down the collar of his coat.  He pulls his hood up and huddles in the coat. For once, he’s grateful for the two sizes too big, coat.

He should have brought gloves, or a scarf, but it’s early September and he hadn’t been expecting to get inside Doc Freeze’s fortress. He usually had to take all his pictures of the Doc from a distance. He wasn’t like Ivy who didn’t mind Tim hanging out in her greenhouse as long as he didn’t mess with the plants.

Doc Freeze is more territorial. It’s been months since Tim has gotten close enough to get even a blurred photo of him fighting with Batman and Robin. Still, it was stupid not to plan for the possibility of having to deal with ice or snow.

If he was smart he’d head back out of the fortress and go home to change out of his now soaked clothes. He keeps going instead.

# # #

Tim manages to get some great pictures of Batman and Doctor Freeze. He also gets a cold. He's stuck in bed for a few days, and feels too weak to try traversing the roof tops for another three more days after that. By the time he's confident enough to go back out onto the streets he's been out of contact with Selina and Jason for a week.

He heads for Selina's section of the Red District. It takes almost an hour to get there, since he's even more cautious than usual. The rooftops seem more treacherous than usual. Every apartment he passes has their shades closed tight against the night. Even the bums that gather in the alley-ways have gone quiet. Their fires burned down to little more than embers.

Something happened while he was off the streets.

He approaches the fire-escape he usually uses to get down to street level, but he doesn't climb down. Instead he crouches at the edge of the roof and watches for Selina or Jason. There are no signs of either of them.

The girls are still out, but they're clumped together in doorways and watching the street with fear instead of patience or anticipation. If they stay out more than a few hours Tim will be surprised.

It's not his business though. If Selina and Jason aren't guarding the territory, he doesn’t have a reason to approach any of the girls. They know him through Selina, but when he's on his own they treat him like they would any other street kid.

He doesn't have the patience to try and buy information about what happened from them. And even if he felt like trying, he's been off the streets for long enough that any of the information he'd have to trade would be out of date.

So he backs way from the roof's edge and starts back making his way south. Selina's apartment is a few blocks away, on the other end of her territory. Hopefully he'll be able to get answers from her.

# # #

Selina's apartment is situated at the uppermost corner of the building. The lower floors have bars on the windows, but that stops once you get above the tenth floor.

So the only things that he has to worry about when breaking in, is the unfortunate lack of fire-escapes on the building and the alarms Selina has wired to every entrance and exit out of her house, even the ones that only an accomplished burglar can use.

He ends up hopping to the roof of her building, and then using a drainpipe to climb down until he could balance on the decorative lintel of her living room's window. Tim doesn’t like getting into the apartment this way, but Jason had made sure he knew all the best fingers and toeholds the first time he’d come to the apartment after dark.

Even knowing how to get in, it takes a delicate balancing act, to brace himself between the window's lintel and sill with only one hand. While he uses his other hand to access the hidden catch and yank out the necessary wires.

A beeping sound comes from the window. He freezes and digs his fingers deeper into the lintel. A second later the noise cuts off. Allowing him to through the catch and unlock the window. Despite the rust and dirt that darkens the window's frame it only takes a few seconds to get the window open after that. Selina keeps it well oiled.

He slips inside the dark living-room. His earlier feelings of unease grows when the only sounds he hears are those of the cats. He can just barely make out their eyes shining in the soft light of the streetlights.

"Hi kitties." He whispers. Edging sideways until he can reach the side-table light. The last thing he needs is to step on somebody's tail. Selina's newest addition, a new black tomcat, named Harley, rubs against his legs. It's just past 10:00.  There's no way Selina should be in bed.  Jason's even worse than she is about staying up late. The light should have been on, before he got here.

They always leave it lit when they're on a job or working a late night in the District. His stomach clenches. What had he missed while he was sick?

Old Lady Cleo hisses at him from her perch on the back of the couch. . He knows better than to try and touch her without getting her permission first, but if he ignores her she'll claw at him, when he sits down.  Approaching the couch slowly, he lowers his hand, fingers spread wide, so she can sniff at them. It's only when she starts chirring, that he finally scratches under her chin.  She stretches out to rub against his hand. Once she starts kneading the cushions, he feels comfortable enough to sit down

She sprawls across his lap, before he even has a chance to get situated. And with Harley tries to follow him up onto the couch, she hisses until he slinks off into the kitchen.

Tim resigns himself to petting her until she gets bored and wanders off. He's not going anywhere until Selina and Jason come back, so he might as well settle in.

# # # #

Selina wakes him up with a hand on his arm.  The cats have all abandoned him to rub happily against her legs. "Hey kiddo, if I'd known you were going to visit tonight I'd have been sure to meet you. We've been worried about you."

He reached up to rub sleep out of his eyes. "Is everything all right?"

"We don’t hear from you for a while. Thought we might have to come find you.”

Selina knew he can take care of himself.  He had disappeared for longer than a week before. "Did something happen?"

She shooed the cats off of the couch and lifted his feet up so she can slide underneath. "Tim..."

He can feel her shaking. Fine tremors that would be un-noticeable if she hadn't been rubbing her hand over his legs. In anyone else the tremors would have been a sign that they were about to cry. In Selina they were a sign of her anger.

Every instinct he had, was screaming for him to try and disappear. He tried to pull his feet away from her, without drawing attention to what he was doing.

Selina startles, when he moves to quickly. Like she'd forgotten that she was petting him and not one of her cats. Now that he has her attention, she stops staring at his feet, and looks him in the eyes.

Her mascara ran at some point. There are patchy spots where she'd dabbed at it, but he can still see the faint gray marks where she hadn't been able to clean it away completely.

The urge to protect her, helps him overcome his instincts. "What happened?"

"Jason...somebody took him."

"What!?" That should be impossible. Nobody outside of Two face, Black Mask, the Joker, and Batman should be able to subdue him. "How."

"I don't know. He hasn't shown up in any of the Juvie halls or police holding cells, so he can't have been picked up by a patrol."

"So somebody has him."

She nods, her hand digging into his ankle until he's tempted to check for nail marks. She's really freaked out. "Everyone I've talked to says that the only person they know was in the area, was the Batman."

"Are you sure?"

She shook her head, "No, but I put feelers out. If the Joker or anybody else has him I'll hear about it."

"But nobody knows how to get in contact with the Bat." Nobody but him.

She pulls him into a hug. He can still feel her shaking, but the tremors have lessened.

"We'll get him back Selina, I promise." Even if it means he has to go to the Manor, instead of just stalking Batman.

# # #

Wayne Manor is surrounded by a tall, ornate wrought iron fence. It would have proved a difficult security measure to bypass if it wasn't for the old oak tree branches reach far out over the fence. It isn't easy to climb up onto the branch, but it is doable.

He's perfected the move of grabbing onto the lower branches and pulling himself up to straddle the large branch hung out over the fence. The first couple times he'd come close to falling flat on his face, but he doesn't even worry about it now. After he's in the tree it is just a matter of standing up and walking carefully down the length of the branch until he reaches the tree's trunk.

The branch was almost twice as wide as the ledge leading to Selina's apartment.  So it isn't even that frightening.

Normally he sneaks onto the grounds and finding a good place to take pictures of Alfred in the kitchen, or Dick playing in the ballroom. Today he's going to have to get closer to the Manor. It's more risky, but he can’t afford to get caught. 

If anybody sees a kid dressed in like a street rat and wandering around the Wayne family cemetery he'll be in real trouble. He uses his camera to scan the area, only easing himself down from the tree once he is sure nobody is around to see him run from the base of the tree over to the nearest headstone in the Wayne family cemetery. He uses it to cover his presence from any passerby’s who might raise the alarm about a kid hiding out in Wayne Manor.

Which means he is partially visible from Wayne Manor, but that is inevitable. He has to be able to see the Manor in order to search for signs of Jason. Hunkering down until his belly is pressed against the soft grass and moss that covered the older graves; he brings his camera to bear on the Manor. He takes the time to zoom in carefully, until he had the clearest possible view from his angle.

He still can’t make out anything farther away than a few feet from the windows, or see into any of the rooms with east-facing windows, but he can only risk getting closer if there is some sign of Jason. If he doesn’t see anything, that won’t mean Batman doesn’t have him, but it may mean Bruce is keeping him somewhere Tim and Selina won’t be able to break into.

He starts his search with the upper room.  If they were keeping Jason in the Manor then it will only to keep him somewhere where a curious visitor won’t accidentally stumble onto him. All of the attic windows and those in the third story were blank. Either the windows were drawn or there is no sign of movement near them.

He is able to locate Alfred dusting in the hallway faced the large multi-paned window takes up the center of the house. Dick and Bruce were nowhere to be found. They’re most likely still asleep after their late night of crime-fighting. Which means Jason won’t be in either of their rooms.

Confident Bruce won’t keep a kidnapped child in the family bedrooms; Tim moved his camera towards the more remote bedrooms on the east side of the Manor. Is why it takes him a moment to realize the flash of movement he’ll caught a glimpse of when he is moving the camera, had not come from either of the Wayne family’s occupied bedrooms.

He swung his camera back around and zeroed in on the window he’ll seen the movement in. He zoomed in further. It made the picture blurrier, but at least let him get the impression of what is going on in the room on the other side of the window. There is someone in the bedroom. Someone with black hair and dressed in too large clothes.

There is no way to prove this is Jason, it can have been one of Dick’s friends who’d come home with him for a visit, but the sight of someone who can easily have been Jason, and the fact Cat-woman’s informants had told her Batman had Jason, means there is an over a 75% chance the boy is Jason.

Which means they had to find a way to get him out, safely, and hopefully without kicking off a few of the Bat-family. Is the last thing any of them need.

Unscrewing the lenses from the camera, he tucked it in one pocket and the camera in the other. Then he hurried back over to the tree, and pulls himself up into its branches. Only dropping back down on the other side of the fence, once there isn’t anybody around to see him. He had some major thinking to do before he meets up with Selina tonight.

He is going to have to decide if it is worth it, or even possible, to blackmail Bruce with his secret identity, not to mention deciding what he is going to tell Selina about how he knew about Bruce being Batman. It is likely to come up he isn’t as much of a street-kid as most people thought he is. 

He doesn’t know what will happen after, but he knows he never wanted to have to find out. Of course he didn't have that kind of luck. This had always been enviable.

# # #

He goes to Selina's house just before sundown.

He raps quietly on the window.  It takes a few seconds for her to let him in. But it's easier than disabling the alarm. As soon as he's inside Cleo starts meowing pitifully like she hasn’t seen him in forever.

He goes over to pet her even if she is spoiled rotten. “I found something out about Jason.  I figured he will want to wait.”

“How did you find it out? You didn’t do something stupid did you?”

She knew him too well.  “Nothing I wouldn't have done anyway.”

“What a relief.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.  “It’s good to know you don’t trust me.”

“You know that’s not it, Selina.”

“Do I?”

“Selina, you know I think of you and Jason as my family. It's not like I enjoy keeping secrets from you. Some things just aren’t my secrets to tell." He can’t say much more without giving the whole thing away. It will be suspicious enough as it is. "I found Jason. Isn’t that enough?"

"Are you going to tell me where it is? Or are you just going to promise me you'll get him out safe and expect me to stay here waiting for you to come back and tell me if you succeeded or not?"

He leaves off petting Cleo so he can hug Selina. It isn't usually as thing. She is the one who usually initiates their hugs.  She is hurt though. Maybe it was time to make an exception to the rule. "I won't ask you to stay home for this.  You just can't come with me."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? You're a kid. Too smart for your own good, but still a kid.  I’m supposed to be the one looking after you and Jason.  Not the other way round."

"You've done everything you can for both of us. But sometimes there are things we have to do, no matter how much we don’t want to."

She hugs him for a few minutes longer, before finally letting him go. He acted like he doesn’t notice when she dabbed her eyes of the back of her hands.

"So what's the plan?" She asks.

"I need you to make a distraction. Something big enough to get Batman's attention."

Her smile is downright evil. “I can manage that. After all, I have to repay the hospitality he’s shown Jason."

# # #

They waited until after sundown. A few hours after until is pitch black. Or as black as the Gotham ever got. The city, for all it is full of shadows and secrets, is never truly dark.

He snuck into the Manor grounds, using the same tree as he had earlier today. Hiding behind a different tombstone this time. The one he hid behind before is too close to the Wayne parent’s graves. Bruce likes to visit them some nights.  It'd be a shame if their plan failed because he didn’t anticipate that kind of a visit.

He had a police scanner with him. It should tell him when Selina's distraction starts.  He’s long suspected Batman's information network of being more advanced, than the police’s. A suspicion that is proving true when he hears the distant rumble of the Bat-mobile leaving the grounds, before there is so much as a whisper of trouble from the police scanner. He doubts that Batman takes Robin with him, but hopefully Robin will be too busy keeping an eye on what man is up to, to leave the Cave and check on Jason.

If Tim gets lucky he might not even notice Tim being on the grounds until after he gets Jason out of the Manor.

He isn’t usually lucky. Which is why he is in costume and carrying Jason’s costume. It might be suspicious, having a kitten show up at the Manor, but it takes thought it is a simple robbery he is less likely to show off his skills as Robin.

Getting into the Manor is easy.  They kept the security of the matter itself to a high end, but a simple model frequently uses five, but all of the rich folks of Gotham. Tim’s parents have had almost an identical system into place years before.  He’d learn how to disable it without any trouble. The more subtle, and Batman’s security measures were a little more difficult to dismantle, but he had been breaking and entering on the Manor grounds for years. He knew enough to get through them without setting off any obvious alarms.

There were probably motion sensors or something similar set up, but he will have to risk it. It will be better for him to go in fast, than creep along hoping he won’t be noticed.

Beyond the securities system there are a lot of other similarities between the Wayne Manor and the Drake Manor. Either side in Gotham had always been interconnected. So isn’t a surprise. Still, he wished it bends daring enough to risk his camera.  He does love to take a poll picture of the portrait of the Wayne and family hung above the fireplace.  He had so few pictures of Bruce when he was a child.

He takes the stairs at a run, only stopping a second or two to grab anything that look shiny, non-sentimental, and within easy reach.  He needed to pretend he was a cat burglar, and not an “you’re on a rescue mission”.

He counted the seconds off in his head. It is almost ten minutes from when he first breached Security System to when he reached the third floor. Still no sign of Dick.  Which might mean he is changing into civilian clothes to hide his secret identity, or might mean that he is locking down the cave so Tim can’t get into it.

Neither possibility is comforting.

He founds Jason’s room by following the dumps and yelling, muffled by the thick door.  He should have been expecting it. Jason isn’t the type to keep quiet. Which meant they weren’t getting out of here quietly.  If he hadn’t been caught yet, breaking Jason out of his room will certainly get him caught.

It isn’t like he can leave Jason. Since the whole reason he broke in Wayne Manor in the first place is to get Jason out.  Not to mention Selina killing him.

Unlike getting up the stairs he isn’t about to use brute force on this lock.  It looks like a simple deadbolt but Tim has his doubts. Bruce built his reputation on always having some trick up his sleeve.

“Jason…  Jason!” He calls a softly as he can while still trying to be heard through the door. It doesn’t matter anyway. Jason is too busy screeching to notice. Forced to give up subtlety, he’ll banged on the door. Is immediately quiet in the room now.  Jason is probably lying in wait for whichever the Bat he expects to come through the door. 

“Jason!”

“Kid?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Now that he can hear himself think, he fished out his lock picks and starts working on the lock.

It has been almost 15 minutes now since he’d entered the Manor.  It won’t do in any good to get caught before he gets Jason out. He might have taken a few years of martial arts training and work, with Cat-woman and Tomcat for a few years as well. He is fourteen years old, oh, not to mention small for his age. He’ll be no match for Robin.  Even Tomcat had a hard time keeping up with Robin in a straight fight.

He hits the switch. The machine jerks in his hands. Sparks flew out of the lock. If he’d have time he’d had preferred to wait and double check the security features have been disabled.  They don’t have that kind of time. He sticks the EM pulse back into his pocket and pulls for his lock picks.  It only takes a few seconds after to get the door open.

Jason is glaring at him. If looks can tell he’ll certainly be maimed.  “You can yell at me later. We don’t have time for it now.”

“I’ll tell on you to Selina.” Despite the threat, Jason doesn’t waste a minute following Tim out of the room.  “You got an escape plan, kitten?”

“Run like hell.”

“Straightforward.  My kind of plan.”

“I thought you’d like it.” They reach the stairs by this point. Still no sign of Dick. Which means he is probably lying in wait downstairs.  No need to keep him waiting. He digs into his bag again, this time pulling out Jason’s claws.  A set of knives attached to gloves.

“Now we’re talking!” Jason grinned.

“I thought you’d be pleased,” He says while climbing up onto the banister. “Shall we have a little fun?”

“You bet!” Jason climbs onto the other banner.

Tim starts a silent count-down, using his fingers to let Jason know when he is ready to push off. One…two…three...and they were off. This might not be the safest way to get down the stairs, but they were cats. They’d land on their feet and it will give them a much needed element of surprise.

They hit the floor running.  They get to the ballroom before he’s being bowled over by the larger boy.  He’d have expected them to go after Jason.  But they might not know Jason is Tomcat. So they’d go after the mask, instead of the person they thought was a civilian.

He only takes a couple of hits from Dick, before Jason jumps into the fight.  His claws are out and ready.  He manages to get through Dick’s defenses with one hand and cut the chest of Dick’s uniform down to the body armor with the other. Dick is forced to back up and regroup.

Jason takes full advantage, with his usual irreverent language. “Hi Dickie-bird. You having fun picking on my little brother?”

It is impossible to see Dick’s eyes behind his domino mask, but his mouth is open in shock.  So he hadn’t known who Jason was. Tim would have preferred to keep Jason’s secret identity… well a secret.  But it is too late now.

Jason and Dick jump around the ballroom, trading blows and dodging away by turns. Dick is faster and more limber while Jason hits harder, and isn’t afraid to use his claws to good effect. They’d fight each other to a stand-still if he let them. Which he normally would, but not tonight. “Jason!”

“What?” Jason growls while keeping all of his attention on Dick.

“We need to get out of here.  Cat woman is keeping Batman busy, but I prefer not to keep her waiting.  She’s been worried about you.”

“Fine, but it’s not like we can just leave.  I’m kind of busy”

“Then maybe it’s time you stopped playing.” It is one of their cues.

Jason did just what they have practiced. One of his court of the aid of a series of scratches across Robin’s chest before springing back to where Tim is waiting. Before Dick can recover enough to come after them, Tim tossed a smoke grenade. It only takes a few seconds for the ballroom to be filled with smoke.

Not waiting to see if the gas had incapacitated Dick, Tim grabbed Jason’s wrist and dragged him over to the windows.

# # #

It looks like the decision of whether or not to tell Jason his real identity is about to be taken out of his hands. He hopes he’ll be able to take Jason back to Selina’s apartment immediately. It will calm her down and he prefer not to have to face Batman as well as Robin, but he hadn’t been planning for Robin to be so close on their heels There is no way he’ll be able to get them safely down-town without getting caught.

Not when Robin will probably be calling Batman to warn him his fight with Selina is a set up. With Batman downtown and Robin on their heels they’d be dead meat. So when they reached the end of the street leading up to Wayne Manor, and reached the main road that led downtown, he grabbed Jason’s wrist again and pulled him in the opposite direction. The Drake family mansion isn’t as well established as Wayne Manor, since it is in a section of town where every house is a mansion and the grounds are generally only a quarter acre in size, but  will work to their advantage tonight.

Once they reached the first house, Tim knew it didn’t have a security system on its outside gates, he let go of Jason’s hand and climbed up, trusting Jason to follow him. Jason doesn’t disappoint. He hit the ground on the inside of the fence, less than a minute after Tim did.

Tim held a finger to his lips to indicate Jason should be as quiet as he can. The house doesn’t have an alarm on the fence, but the owners did breed show dogs. The little, yappy kind made great watch dogs. They were used to Tim by this point, but that doesn’t mean they won’t react to Jason if they thought he was a threat.

They skirted carefully around the dog-run heading for the backyard. A few of the dogs twitched an ear or nose in their direction. Tim could practically sense Jason bristling next to him. It must chafe to have to hide from a bunch of little Pomeranians, instead of the larger breed of dog usually used to guard houses downtown. He put his finger to his lips again. This time for the dogs benefit. “Hush now, it’s just me.” He whispered.

The oldest female huffed at him, but can’t be bothered to bark anyway. Once she’ll plopped back down on the ground and starts ignoring them, the rest of the dogs did the same. Jason is still bristling. Unable to resist the temptation, Tim aimed a cheeky grin in his direction.

There were no other incidents before they reached the house’s back yard. All of the houses in this area had trees in the back yard. Old and snarled, with branches stretched on for yards, they made the perfect way to get from yard to yard. As long as you were careful.

It is only a matter of minutes before they were crawling through his bedroom window. Surprisingly, Jason even managed to wait until he closed the window before he started bitching. “What the hell, Tim? Why did you bring us here instead of Selina’s place? She has to be hysterical.”

“She’s also halfway across town, and is fighting Batman. If Robin called Batman and told him you escaped, they will be watching the whole area around Selina’s house. We’ll be lucky if we were the only ones they caught.”

Jason open and closes his mouth a few times. Like he is trying to come up with some way to disagree with Tim’s reasoning. When his mouth finally snapped close and doesn’t open again, Tim take it as a sign he realized there is no way to deny what Tim had says. “If you’re hungry, I can get you some food.”

“No, thanks. Wayne might be prissy but his butler knows how to cook.” Jason replied. He’s already started to poke through Tim’s dresser drawers. He is curious as a cat and with all of Selina’s thieving instincts.

“I’m not stupid enough to keep any valuables in my underwear drawer.” He can’t keep himself from commenting.

“So this is your place. I figured it had to be with the way you got in here, but this isn’t what I was expecting.”

“Oh?” Since it is obvious Jason isn’t going to stop digging through his drawers, Tim decides to take advantage of his distraction and claim dibs on his bathroom. He is the one who is stuck in uniform anyway. Jason’s too tight polo shirt and khakis were nothing like his usual cloths, but they still had to be more comfortable than leather, Kevlar, and spandex.

“Yeah, I and Selina always figured you were from some middle class home. Probably a single parent home since nobody noticed you were sneaking out.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” He reached around Jason to grab a pair of underwear and sleeping pants from the dresser. “It isn’t like I want you to figure out where I am from. It only made sense for me to make it hard for you to figure out who I was.”

“It’s fine, kitten.  It’s not like we don’t know you had secrets.”

“True, but you probably didn’t think they were this serious.” Tim gets into the bathroom, but leaves the door cracked so he can keep talking to Jason.

“Well...”

“I’ll show you around the house, once I changed out of uniform.”

It takes a minute for Jason to reply.  The sound of George being pulls out and rifled through, lets Tim know why.  “Sounds good.  You have a phone?”

“I do, but I don’t want to use it to call Selina.  There’s no way to know if Batman is tracking her. If he can use her phone to track mine, the plan will be completely ruined.”

“You think he is interested in us?”

“We know his secret identity. I don’t think he’ll accept that without making sure he has a way to keep us from talking.”

Tim is pulling on his pants when Jason push the door open a little, says they can talk face to face.  “I get how I know his secret identity.  What I don’t get is how the hell you know. You had to know where you’re going to break me out.”

Tim is it going to apologize.  Even though he kind of felt he should.  “Like I say, I have a lot of secrets.”

“Like knowing Batman secret identity?  It’s not exactly a little secret.”

“I never said it was.” He broke eye contact with Jason to pull his shirt over his head.

“How long you have known?  I wasn’t expecting anybody to find me for a couple of weeks at least.”

“I’ve known Robin’s identity since I was nine.  I figured Batman’s identity out soon after.”

“Shit!”

“Yeah, about sums it up.”

Since Tim is now fully dressed, Jason doesn’t have any compunctions about coming into the bathroom.  “Is his secret so easy to figure out that a nine year olds can do it?  Why hasn’t anybody else figured it out?”

“You tell me, you’re the one who doesn’t know who we was.”

“You’re being bitchy.  I like it.”

“What can I say?  You bring it out on me.” He shoved on Jason its chest to get it to back up so he can get back into the bedroom.  “How did you get yourself caught, anyway?”

“It’s complicated.”

“In other words you don’t want to tell me.”

“Pretty much.” Jason tries to look casual from where he is still leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door.

“That’s fine, but tell that to Selina, anyway.”

“Yeah well, I don’t want to think about it. So, anyway, how about a tour of the house?”

# # #

# # #

They waited after dawn to go out and find a pay phone. Tim felt bad about making Selina wait like this but it was about the only way he knew to make sure Batman did catch up with.

Contrary to popular opinion, Batman did actually go out after dawn. He just doesn’t go too far from home. Which is why Tim get Jason to the shopping district, instead of downtown. Batman isn’t likely to come either a lot of stability. Well, civilians were likely to talk about Batman siding.

Jason rolled coins, and they win over to the nearby diner to pick them up breakfast.  Nothing fancies just a couple of doughnuts. He doesn’t want to have to stay at the diner. If Batman is taping Selina’s phone lines it will be better for everyone if they doesn’t stay near the pay phone after they’re finished using it.

He later to confront the diner for almost 10 minutes. Then he wandered over to the pay phone.  Jason is still on the phone. 

Tim hangs back, keeping a carefully distance until Jason hung up and came to join him. Despite the call to Selina there weren’t any signs they were being watched of followed. At least not in person. There is nothing that says Batman hadn’t tapped into the security cameras littered every store in the area, and is watching them. Tim is fine with it, though, as long as Batman doesn’t show up in person to catch them.

“What did Selina say?”

“She says the distraction worked perfectly. She doesn’t know if Batman followed her home, or knows where she is, so she doesn’t want us to head back to her place yet. She says she’ll figure something out. I’m supposed to call her back in an hour, from a different pay phone.”

“Good.” He is glad somebody else had a plan. “So what do you want to do until then?”

“You don’t want to head back?”

“No, it will be simpler if we don’t go back.” He held the bag of doughnuts out to Jason. He nods casually over to the nearest security camera. “He’s probably watching us. It will be easier for him to track where we came from if we leave and come back again.”

“I need clothes anyway.” He motions down at the cardigan and suit pants he is wearing. They were Tim’s father’s clothes and the only reason the pants were staying on is because he had a belt.

“Sounds good.”

“You think Wayne, will come looking for us, since ‘you know who’ can’t?”

“No. It would cause too much of a stir for him to come to a shopping center. It’s more likely he will send Dick after us.”

Jason stole another doughnut from the bag and stuffed half of it into his mouth in one bite. Before trying to talk around it.

Tim rolls his eyes. “Chew first, and then talk.”

It is Jason’s turn to roll his eyes. “I asked if he is who you were looking for?”

“Yeah, though I’m not expecting him to show up for another half hour or so.”

“Well, we better find me some clothes fast then. No way do I want to face off against Daddy’s boy looking like this.”

“You put too much stock in looking like a bad-ass.”

Jason gave Tim’s dress shirt and sweater vest a dirty look. “Not everyone can pull off the good boy look.”

“Fine, let’s see if we can find a Goth store so you can get back to your usual black on black wardrobe.” He grabbed the last doughnut, and crumpled up the bag it had come in, throwing it into a nearby trashcan.

“I’m not bad.”

“Right, black jeans, black shirt, with a black biker jacket over-top. And let’s not forget the black combat boots and spiked belt you usually top it all with.”

Jason grumbles, but he can’t argue with Tim’s summary of his usual dress code. He did try though, “I wear red sometimes too.”

“Right, because the decals on your shirt make up for the blackness of the rest of your outfit.”

# # #

# # #

Dick is waiting for them when they came out of the Goth store. Jason bristles as soon as he sees him. So Tim decides to step in and handle the situation before Jason got them arrested for starting a fist fight in the middle of the retail district. “Hello, Dick. We’ve been expecting you. I hope we didn’t keep you waiting long?”

Dick startles. Not much, but enough that Tim is able to pick up on his twitch. His eyes, which had been focuses on Jason, slid down to focus on Tim instead. “No, I’ve only been here a few minutes.”

“You could have just come in. I’m sure it would make a nice article in the gossip rags. ‘Wayne Heir acting rebellious. Seen going into a Goth store’”

“We haven’t been here long." He nods at the car waiting at the curb. Alfred is behind the wheel.

“It's probably more suspicious for you to keep standing outside of the store and staring at it, than if you just came in.

"I'll take my chances with the reporters." He's still smiling. "We'd like it if you could accompany us back to Wayne Manor."

Jason bristles.

Tim can feel him preparing to jump Dick. He motions for Jason to stop. They don't need to draw attention to themselves, yet. "I'm sorry, but that won't be possible. We need to finish shopping for new clothes."

Dick's expression shifts enough to show the steel hiding under his polite exterior. "That wasn't a request."

"Why do you think we'll do what you tell us to?" Jason asks.

Alfred speaks up. "Ms. Kyle is waiting for us to join her."

Tim isn't fast enough to stop Jason this time.

Dick dodges his punch before it can land. Which gives Tim a chance to grab a handful of Jason's new biker jacket and yank him back, before he can attack again. "Then we should get going..."

"If you will, sirs?" Alfred opens the car door and holds it for them.

"...once we have proof that you have Selina."

Dick tenses, but there is respect in Alfred's eyes. "Quite right, sir. It wouldn't do to make any rash decisions." He reached inside his pocket and pulls out a slim black cellphone. "Sir, young Master Kitten will like to speak with you about Ms. Selina's presence at the Manor."

Tim is impressed. There aren't many people who could keep a straight face through saying something as ridiculous as 'Young Master Kitten'.

After a moment Alfred holds the phone out to him. He's tempted to put it on speaker phone, but he'll gain nothing by being petty, so he presses it to his ear instead. "Hello, Mr. Wayne."

"Get in the car."

Well that lacked subtlety. "That's not going to happen until we're sure Selina is safe and with you. My parent's always taught me not to get into cars with strangers."

There is a choking sound from behind him. Definitely Jason. Though there is a twinkle of amusement in Alfred's eyes.

"Get in the car, now!"

"No. Now let me talk to Selina. Unless you want us to cause a scene..." He trails off and lets Bruce consider the ramifications. If they start a fight in the middle of the street, Bruce might have to explain why his heir was fighting street rats and trying to get them to get in a car with him.

"You're petty thieves. You wouldn't dare." He speaks with all the conviction of his years of profiling criminals.

Unfortunately for Bruce, Tim  spent years profiling him. He pulled the phone away from his ear. "Jason, why don't you finish that fist fight you started earlier."

Jason makes a show of cracking his knuckles. "My pleasure."

Tim turns his attention back to the phone, once Jason makes his first, wild swing."

"Kitten?" Selina asks.

"Give me a sec..." He pulls the phone away from his ear again. "That's enough Jason."

"What? Already? C'mon I was just starting to have fun."

"If you really want you two can finish your tussle once we get to a private venue."

Jason stops, mid complaint. "So they do have her."

Nodding,he puts the phone to his ear, yet again. "Sorry Selina. I had something to take care of."

"So I hear."

"Do you want us to come?" It wouldn't be easy to lose Dick, but this area of town wasn't one that Robin usually patrolled. If they split up they'll have a good chance of getting away.

She sighs, creating a metallic buzz. "You might as well. If you get away, he'll send the police."

"Alright. Do you want to talk to Jason."

"No. It can wait. Just tell him to behave."

"I can tell him, but you know he doesn't listen." Tim jokes.

"Just do your best."

There is a rustling noise, like the phone was changing hands. Tim hung up before Bruce could get back on the line. "She wants us to go with them."

"Anything else?"

"She says to behave."

Jason starts cussing under his breath, but he doesn't hesitate before getting into the car.

Tim wishes he had that kind of confidence.

# # #

Bruce is waiting for them in the Manor's foyer. Tim has only been here in this room when he accompanied his family to benefits hosted by the Wayne Foundation.

It was strange to see how much darker and more menacing the soaring staircases and wooden paneling was, when the room wasn't full of men and women dressed in their black suits and glittering jewel-toned dresses.

With the lights dimmed and the echoing area empty, it was easy to see how a child raised in this environment could become melo-dramatic enough to think dressing in a giant bat costume was a good idea.

Selina is standing next to Bruce, his hand wrapped around her upper arm. Beyond being held captive, she looks good, dressed in some sparkling designer black dress that Bruce had to have provided.

She isn't shaking today, and her makeup is in perfect lines and blends. If you didn't know her, you'd never guess she was a thief. She looks every bit the Gotham social-light.

Jason stalks forward and yanks her away. Moving to stand in front of her. Tim expects Bruce to stop him but most of Bruce’s attention stays on Tim. He's probably trying to figure out where he's seen Tim before. If he hasn't figured it out already. “You hung up on me.”

“Did I?” Tim isn’t going to make this easy on him. “I thought Selina was done talking.”

Bruce can’t refute that. “You should have waited.”

“Why? We’d already decided to accept your invitation. You could have called back if you had something more to say.” Tim had kept the phone in his pocket for the whole ride back. He knew Bruce hadn’t tried to call again.

“As he says, Master Bruce. If you had something urgent to tell us, I am sure the young Master would have returns the phone to me.”

“That's not the point!”

“Why did you want to talk to us?” Tim says. He pettily enjoys hanging up on Batman. They were here for a reason and the sooner it got sorted out the sooner they can leave. Selina and Jason were still having a whispered discussion on the far side of the room. Which leaves Tim with the responsibility of dealing with the Bat-family.

“I want to know what you plan to do with the information you have about our identities.”

Straight to the point then. “Nothing. I have never had an interest in using your identities against you.”

“So you already knew who we were? I find that hard to believe. If you knew then why didn't Ms. Kyle know who I was?"

“I didn’t feel it was important to tell her your identity since there are so many dangers involved with knowing it.” The implication this meeting is only proving his point goes unsaid.

"What assurance can you offer me that any of this is true, and that you aren't just laying a trap?"

“We’re willing to leave the city if it will make you feel better.” Selina says before Tim has a chance to come up with an answer..

“What?” Tim asks. He knows she has considered leaving before. She’s been saving up money to take a trip around the world for almost as long as he’d know her, but he’d never wanted to be the reason she had to leave Gotham.

“Will that suit your paranoia?” Selina asks.

“Just because you're gone that doesn’t mean you won’t sell us out.” Bruce replies

She laughs. It isn't her usual bright laugh. This one is full of edges and raises the hairs on the back of his neck. It's the type of laugh she uses right before she demolishes any pimp stupid enough to get caught in her territory. Bruce stares at her, stunned. Maybe he really hadn't realize that Selina had been playing with him before. “Nothing is going to stop me from telling people what I know. Unless you’re planning to lock us up in you

“You don’t have any sort of assurance, but since your other option is locking us up in prison, which will both piss us off and put us in direct contact with the enemies you have…"He trails off. Giving Bruce a few seconds to consider the possibilities. "I think letting Selina and Jason leave on their own terms will be your best bet.”

“And what about you?”

“You can't lock me up."

“He can come with us.” Selina says.

Tim flinches. He'd forgotten that she still doesn't know who he is. “Jason will be able to explain to you why that isn't feasible.”

“I would prefer you went with Ms. Kyle.” Bruce says.

“So will I, but that isn’t going to happen.” He won’t be the reason Jason and Selina got on the FBI watch list for kidnapping.

“You are Timothy Drake aren’t you? You look a good deal like your father did in his youth. Though you have your mother's strength of will."

Strength of will was one way of putting it. "I am."

Bruce and Selina turned to stare at him.

“I agree it would be inadvisable for you to leave the city at this point.” Bruce says.

“Jason, did you know about this?” Selina asks.

“I found out last night. It explained some things, though he does do a good job not acting like a rich kid.” He moves closer to Tim and slings an arm over his shoulder.

Tim doesn’t want to keep discussing this. “Can we leave now?"

“We still have some things to discuss. Ms. Kyle might be willing to leave Gotham for a while but what is to keep her from coming back once she gets bored?"

“I see no reason we can’t find other places to use our skills.” She practically purred ‘skills’ just to make it clear she means she is planning to rob somebody blind and there is nothing Bruce can do about it.

Bruce bristles, but he doesn't make any overt moves to confront her. He still looks out of depth, if you can see past his scowl. Selina is obviously more than he was prepared to encounter when he'd gone to pick her up. She might be a burglar who ran protection rackets, but that didn't mean she was easy to predict.

Shooting a look on Tim’s direction to make sure he is watching, she smiles. “There will of course have to be exceptions about when we are allowed to come back into town.”

“Why?

“Why? You can’t expect us to abandon Timmy, can you? What if something happens to him? Not to mention birthdays and Christmas then we’ll want to come back and visit him.”

“He has family for that. He shouldn’t be spending time with thieves.”

“Bruce…”Dick says.

“No, they shouldn’t be spending time with an impressionable child. Period.”

Selina’s smile is all teeth. “Then I’m afraid we won't be leaving Gotham. You might be able to catch us and even cage us, but we’ll eventually get out. Then Jason and I will come after you, to make your life a living hell.”

“You don't need to do that. I’m fine with just talking to you on the phone. There isn’t any reason you need to be so drastic.”

She doesn’t break eye contact with Bruce to even glance at Tim. “Well Bruce? What’s your decision? Let us go, or make us your enemies?”

Bruce growls a full Batman growl. Tim braces himself to back Selina up if he attacked her. Thankfully, Dick steps in before it becomes too heated. “That’s enough… all of you. As long as the visits are supervised it only makes sense for Selina and Jason to visit Gotham occasionally.”

“This isn’t a case, this is the mission.”

“Master Bruce, I must concur with Young Master Dick. It will be cruel to pull their family apart unnecessarily.”

Having both Alfred and Dick willing to go against him forces Bruce to back down. He turns away with a snarl, heading towards the back of the house. He speaks with his back turned to them. “You have until the end of the week to get out of Gotham. If you want to come back you will find a way to contact us in advance so we can prepare.”

Then he stalks out of sight, leaving Dick and Alfred to see them out.

# # #

Epilogue

# # #

They meet at Selina’s building a few evenings later. All of the business was taken care of. Selina's girls had a new protector and all the bags were packed. Now it was time for goodbyes.

Cleo meows pitifully at Tim from where her cage is sitting on the sidewalk. Selina and Jason will be taking a taxi to Gotham airport. From there, even Tim doesn’t know where they were going. It is better a way. Otherwise he might be tempted to follow them.

Selina pulls him into a tight hug. “I wish we can take you with us.”

“I’ll be fine, Selina. I promise.” He tries his best to sound sure of himself. Even though he's tempted to cry. Something he hasn't felt since he was a little kid and still got upset when his parents him alone.

“I know you will, sweetheart. You’re a survivor. Once you’re old enough, you can run away, and come see us, alright?”

She kisses his forehead and squeezes him one last time. Then she turns away and gets into the taxi. Tim pretends he doesn’t notice her dabbing at her eyes.

Jason pushes off from where he's been leaning against the side of the building. He slings an arm over Tim’s shoulders. “I know you know this already, but if you have any trouble, even if it is with Batman I want you to call us. We’ll be here. After all, it will ruin my reputation if my little brother got hurt on my watch.”

“Right… your reputation.” Tim says, willing to play along, but unable to keep his sarcasm in check.

Jason clears his chest embarrassedly. “Yeah, well.”

“I’ll miss you too.” He says, willing to let Jason off the hook.

Jason pulls him into a hug just as tight as Selina’s, it only lasts for a minute, and then he is practically running for the taxi. It is only a minute before the taxi is pulling away, and he is alone again.

He waves until it turns the corner and is out of sight, but he can’t imagine either Selina or Jason doing something as undignified as waving back. He hunches into himself and stuck his hand into his pocket. Something crinkled in his right pocket.

He jerked upright and fished it out. It is an envelope. Opening it carefully he pulls out what is inside. It is a picture. One of him, Selina, and Jason. On the back, written in Selina’s looping scrawl, were the words ‘Don’t forget us' with Selina and Jason's cell numbers underneath.

Despite himself, he feels better. He tucks the picture safely back into his pocket, to be added to his prized collection of pictures.

It is even more precious to him than his carefully compiled pictures of Batman and Robin. Maybe he'll even get a frame to keep the picture in.

After all they're family. Nothing is more important than that.

# # #

Fin

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure there are remaining grammar/tense issues in this fic. If you see any please, please comment and let me know so that I can fix them!
> 
> I will reward you with virtual hugs and cookies!


End file.
